FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
OREGON
STATE UNIVERSITY
1991 Meeting 473 - February 7, 1991
FOR ALL ACADEMIC
STAFF
ACTION
The meeting was called to order at 3:00 by President
Zoe Ann Holmes. The January minutes were approved
as published.
HIGHLIGHTS
Discussion
Standards.
of
proposed
Admission
and
Retention
SUMMARY OF SENATE ACTIONS
The following items were approved: Plus/Minus Grading
Change, as amended, and a resolution expressing
support for teach-ins and educational events concerning
the Middle East.
[Motions 91-473-01 through 91-473-03]
ROLL CALL
Members Absent With Representation:
Beschta, D. Brodie; L. Davis, G. Reistad; Hart, B.
McCullough;
Huddleston,
N. Christensen; Kelsey, J.
Peters; Messersmith, S. Francis; Siocombe, T. Skubinna;
Smart, P. Kia; and S. Smith, B. Gerding.
Members Absent Without Representation:
Burrill, Clarke, Coakley, Duncan, Flaherty, Hendricks,
Kanury, Ladd, Lederman, Lee, Mitchell, Mukatis, Mundt,
Pyles, R. Rice, Robbins,
Rudd, Shibley,
Trehu,
Vanderveen, Weber and Zaerr.
Faculty Senate Officers/Staff:
Zoe Ann Holmes, President; Kathy Heath, Presidentelect; Thurston
Doler, Parliamentarian;
and Vickie
Nunnemaker, Senate Administrative Assistant.
r>.
Guests of the Senate Were:
Barbara Balz, Registrar; Tom McClintock, CLA; S.
McMullen, Economics; Dave Nicodemus; and Shahid
Yusaf, ASOSU.
PLUS/MINUS
GRADE CHANGE
Mina McDaniel, Academic Regulations Committee Chair,
presented this issue as a discussion item at the January
meeting. The following recommendation, presented for
approval, lists specific plus/minus letter grades with
corresponding
increment values which would change
portions of the Academic Regulations Sections 17., 18.
and 19.:
The grading system at Oregon State University should
be changed to a "plus and minus" system. An A or
4.0 should be the highest grade, and pluses and
minuses would be at 0.3 increments from the whole
grade. Grades and numerical equivalents should be
as follows:
.
A
AB+
B
4.0
3.7
3.3
3.0
B- 2.7
C+ 2.3
C
2.0
C- - 1.'1
D+ 1.3
D
1.0
D- 0.7
F
0
Other grades currently in use (S,U,P,N,E,I, W,R) remain.
Satisfactory or passing work for S/U option should
require a minimum grade of C or 2.0. The grades of Cand below will be considered
below average and
therefore unsatisfactory (U) or not passing (N) *.
This change
should
go into effect
with the
implementation of the Banner student information system.
An amendment to Section 18a(3) of the Academic
Regulations
was submitted
and voted on.
The
underlined portions are proposed changes based on the
above recommendation;
the "and" which is struck
through is the amended portion:
18a(3) A grade of S (satisfactory) shall be
equivalent to grades A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+,
amJ C and C-.
A grade
of U
(unsatisfactory) shall be equivalent to
grades of D + D, ~ and F.
I
Discussion
began with concerns
relating to the
amendment. Senator Brown, COB, questioned whether
an individual could graduate from OSU with a 1.75 under
the proposed system.
Kathy Heath, President-elect,
noted that there is a regulation which states that one
must have a 2.0 to graduate.
Lita Verts, ASSOC., explained that the amendment is only
addressing S/U grades. She stated that all other PAC-1 0
schools have been polled. It was found that seven have
the plus/minus system, and six of those have C- as satisfactory. Verts believes that there is a limit on the number
of S/U courses which can be considered for credit, so an
individual cannot have primarily S/U graded courses with
an equivalent of 1.7.
Senator Tiedeman, CLA, spoke in support of the motion
because students currently receive satisfactory grades
for C- work since there is no plus/minus system.
Senator Schwartz, CLA, was opposed to the amendment
and explained that the OSU catalog defines a C as
"average performance". The Advancement of Teaching
Committee, of which he is Chair, didn't feel that a grade
.of satisfactory should be given to work that is below
average.
Senator Matzke, COS, stated that the Geosciences
faculty he has spoken with support the change. He feels
that there should not be a problem with the C- being
satisfactory since a D is currently considered to be a
passing grade, but one cannot graduate with a D
average.
Shahid Yusaf, ASOSU President, distributed an ASOSU
resolution in opposition to the entire grade change
proposal.
Motion 91-473-01 to approve the amendment passed
by a show of hands with some dissenting votes.
Yusaf noted that students feel they are being punished
for not being perfect but are not credited for outstanding
grades since there is no A + and that a C- should be
considered as passing.
Motion 91-473-02 to approve the plus/minus
grade
change, as amended, passed by a show of hands with
some dissenting votes.
DISCUSSION
ADMISSION AND RETENTION POLICY
Kathy Heath, Curriculum Council Chair, explained that
last fall Mike Martin, Immediate Past Faculty Senate
President, asked the Council to review student admission
and retention standards on campus, partly in response
to Home Economic's request for new standards and
partly from increased pressures of enrollment in different
colleges. The entire proposal is found on pages four
and five of the February FS agenda. The Council does
not want to put any pressure on anyone to change
current policy. They felt that it is more humane to have
admission standards rather than retention standards
since all students would have equal opportunities to get
into programs.
Senator Francis (vice Messersmith), HEC, questioned the
level of approval.
Heath
responded
that the
recommendation
is for proposals to receive approval
from the Curriculum Council and the Faculty Senate.
Francis questioned criterion one and Heath noted that is
only one criteria which may be used and that not all five
criteria must be met.
Francis felt that criterion four is irrelevant to the issue.
Francis also felt that the narrative portion which
addresses
lack of resources
is irrelevant.
Heath
responded
that the Budgets and Fiscal Planning
Committee
more appropriately
addresses
lack of
resources.
Heath agreed with Francis when she asked for
clarification
in her understanding
that admission
standards, rather than retention standards, could be
used to control the size of a program.
Following
criteria:
is a portion
of the proposal
containing
tne
The Curriculum Council will consider the following
criteria when evaluating the curricular or academic
necessity for admission and/or retention standards:
1. A program that is a professional program which
leads directly to employment. Often, professional _ r-'\
programs must have specialized criteria.
2. A program that is accredited
by an external
professional
accrediting
organization
with
accreditation
standards
that bear upon the
proposed admission/retention
requirements.
3.
Practica or internships that involve responsibilities
that require exceptional competence or level of
performance.
4.
Demonstrated surplus of graduates
demand for graduates.
5.
Demonstrated need for a high level of performance
required
to successfully
complete
a certain
program or certain courses.
The Curriculum
Council would routinely approve the requirement
that students complete a course in the major with
a passing grade of C or better.
If a grade of
greater than C is required, approval would be
based upon the above criteria.
relative to the
This item will be voted on at the March 7 Faculty Senate
meeting.
If you have any questions, please contact
Kathy Heath.
INFORMATION
ITEMS
NEW BUSINESS
All starred (*) items included in the Senate agenda
may be viewed by contacting a Senator from your unit.
Bruce
Shepard,
Assistant
Vice
President
for
Undergraduate Studies, provided information regarding
how the academic calendar is determined and provided
a draft for 1991-97.
Promotion & Tenure Committee
Senate
Whereas, Campus dialogue to allow open discussion
of diverse views is desirable;
* Academic Calendar
*
Senator Smith, CLA, moved that the Faculty
adopt the following resolution:
1990 Report
This report addresses the Promotion & Tenure process,
the Waiver of Confidentiality and a recommendation to
ensure efficient functioning of the committee.
REPORTS FROM THE FACULTY SENATE
PRESIDENT
Academic Calendar - Noted that Dr. Shepard formally
requested input on the draft "Calendar Proposals: 199197".
Please contact your unit Senator to view this
document and direct comments to Dr. Shepard.
Food Drive - President Holmes encouraged every unit to
participate in the campus food drive. She noted that all
food collected is distributed in the county.
Revenue Enhancement - IFS Senators are spreading the
word that it is critical that private citizens write their
legislators and encourage them to work toward revenue
enhancement bills. Addresses of all legislators were
available on the table outside the meeting room or can
be obtained by calling the Faculty Senate Office, x74344.
McCall Lecture - President Holmes noted that Governor
Roberts would be the guest speaker at the McCall
Lecture and encouraged all faculty to attend on February
13.
Faculty Consultative Group - A report from the FCG was
available as a hand-out prior to the meeting. President
Holmes explained
that the FCG appreciated
the
involvement, on behalf of the Faculty Senate, in the
current budget process and noted that, as with others,
they were not happy with the budget cuts required as
the process proceeded.
Whereas, Broad faculty participation
discussions is encouraged; and
in
these
Whereas, Teach-ins and educational events should
be widely known to allow members of the University
community to plan to participate in ways that they feel
are appropriate;
Resolved, That the Faculty Senate of Oregon State
University expresses support for the joint student,
faculty, and staff sponsorship
of teach-ins and
educational events about the Middle East during
Peace on Earth Day, Wednesday, February 27, 1991.
Introduced
Peace
at the request of OSU Faculty and Staff for
There was no discussion
Motion 91·473·03
on the item.
passed by show of hands.
Smith will convey passage
appropriate groups.
Meeting was adjourned
of the
at 3:27.
resolution
to the